


Goodnight, Don't Let the Tsukumogami Bite

by Fuzztacular



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 14:30:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16431218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fuzztacular/pseuds/Fuzztacular
Summary: His brothers call it garbage, Mikey says it's a treasure, but is there something more than meets the eye to this decrepit doll?





	Goodnight, Don't Let the Tsukumogami Bite

‘Why do patrols have to be so boring?  Run, stop so Leo can play look out, and repeat until bad guys show up.  It wouldn’t be half as bad if I wasn’t being shushed the whole time.  At least we’re going back to the lair now.  What should I do first, watch some TV, read a comic, maybe start the next part of my new videogame?’  Michelangelo’s mind was, unsurprisingly, on everything except the task at hand.  Descending into the sewers had become a cake walk thanks to the thousands of repetitions; same thing, different man-hole-cover.  If he had voiced this thought however, Leonardo would be quick to point out the importance of staying focused and keeping a sharp eye out for anyone or anything that might be following them.  As it were, the orange banded ninja’s attention was drawn instead to a large mound of garbage that had found its way into the underground labyrinth.  Ignoring his brother’s complaints, he bounded over to the pile of potential treasures; they left him behind and he started digging. 

His eyes widened as they assessed the trinket he had uncovered.  It was a doll, a very old looking doll.  Her body, sewn from what could have been an old burlap sack, was thread bare in some spots, had large brown stains on others, and the occasional ripped seam here and there.  Her tiny frame was adorned with a frayed, moth-eaten dress which looked like it had once been tailored from a vibrant yellow and lime green striped fabric, but had faded to off-white and pallid green.  The toy’s most striking feature was her face which had been painted a, now worn and battered, pale cream and carved out of a wooden sphere.  Framed by a chiseled, beige, curly up-do of sorts, her expression was frozen in an empty stare which was made more hollow and unnerving by the dark gouges that marked where her eyes had been.  A large crack ran down the center, obliterating most of the nose and marring her faint pink lips.  ‘You’re coming home with me!  Now what are we gonna name you?  Matilda, Harriet, Maude, Eleanor, Mabel?’ Mikey debated internally.  ‘Ah, I’ve got it!  Your new name will be Gwendoline!’ Happy with his choice, he ran to catch up with his family.

To say the others despised the new addition to their home would have been an understatement.  Leo had groaned and questioned his brother’s apparent need for bringing garbage back to the lair constantly.   Raphael insisted the decrepit doll be disposed of on the grounds that it was creepy and probably infested with all sorts of vermin.  It was the smell that bothered Donatello the most; especially considering Mikey loved waving the toy in everyone’s face.  Master Splinter had a couple reasons for disliking her.  Not only did it agitate his sons into a loud argument interrupting his meditation and peace, which he was certain would become a recurring theme, but he also sensed a negative energy radiating out of the figure.  He didn’t say anything, but his suspicions were obvious every time he looked at her.  It soon became apparent that Gwendoline was there to stay; her new found friend would hear nothing of getting rid of her.  Eventually, the long day and all of the squabbling had taken its toll on the family and they soon retired for the night.

Finally rousing from a restful slumber, Raph sat up in his bed, yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  Noticing something not quite right in his peripheral vision he turned towards the foot of his bed and jumped away in surprise.  He was met by the gaping gaze of his brother’s stupid doll.  “Mikey!” he roared stomping out.  Checking the living room and kitchen with no luck, he headed back towards the corridor with all of their accommodations.  He found his quarry leaving the bathroom.  “If I ever find that gross thing in my room again, I’ll do everyone a favor and send it down the deepest drain I can find,” the angry turtle growled threateningly.

“What are you talkin’ about, dude?” was all Michelangelo could say before he was captured in a head lock and marched into the offending scene.

Immediately releasing his brother in confusion, Raph looked around his sanctuary and under the bed.  “It was just here,” he mumbled before cornering his prey, “Now you’re just making me mad.”  Getting only a curious stare in reply, he clarified, “You keep that doll away from me or it won’t be the only thing going for a swim.”

Mikey snorted, “I don’t blame you for wanting to cuddle with Gwendy-bear, all you have to do is ask, but don’t go blaming me or bullying her if you’re afraid you’ll get caught.”

Their confrontation was interrupted by Leo poking his head through the open door, “Have you guys seen the polishing cloth for my katana?  It’s not in its usual spot.”

Raph was beyond annoyed now, “Why would we know where it is,” he trailed off as realization struck and he pushed his irresponsible brother towards their leader.  “Go give Fearless his rag back and stay out of my room,” he ordered before forcefully closing the door.  A loud clatter immediately sounded from Mikey’s room.  The owner of said space rushed to check the disturbance, his nearest brothers followed after hearing his panicked yelp.  All of his action figures had tumbled from their shelf, the only remaining occupant being none other than Gwendoline. 

Visibly relaxing after quickly taking stock, “Whew,” Mikey sighed, “no damage done.  Let’s move you off the shelf Gwendilocks, don’t want you fallin’ off!”  He went to work reorganizing his collection, missing the nervous glances exchanged between the other two. 

After breakfast and training had concluded, Leo continued looking for his missing textile; Mikey hit the couch yearning for the sweet release of a mindless zombie killing game; Raph was still in the dojo getting a stern reprimanding for his prior attitude from their sensei; and Donnie headed to his lab.  It wasn’t long before the genius exited again in search of his brothers.  He soon found Leo in the kitchen rummaging through a cabinet.  “You wouldn’t happen to be looking for this would you?” he questioned revealing the missing towel.  “I think someone has been fooling around in my lab.”

Relief written all over his face, the ninja in blue thanked his brother before asking, “What’s Mikey done this time?” 

Donatello explained his discovery of the fabric in one of his rarely used drawers while he was searching for a project that had gone missing.  It was a mostly finished blue tooth micro-speaker he had been developing to improve the sound quality of their phones.  As they headed into the living room, he lamented the fact that, due to the small nature of the device, he would probably never see it again, and commented on the odd circumstances surrounding the disappearance.  This piqued the interest of Leo and Raph, who was finally free of his punishment, a magazine in hand.  Seeing the inquisitive looks he received, he confided, “I had been keeping the part in a spare petri dish to prevent this exact problem.  When I went into the lab this afternoon the fully intact dish was right where I’d left it, but empty and with the lid still on.”  All three brothers turned their attention to a very quiet Michelangelo.  Hoping to get lucky, Donnie inquired, “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this would you, Mikey?”

“Sorry, can’t help you, bro.  I didn’t even know there were pea trees,” he intoned, not taking his attention off the screen.  Rolling his eyes the more intelligent of the turtles resigned himself to resuming his search while Leo, despite delay, set off to maintain his weapons.

Patrol that night had been quiet again and to his brothers it seemed as though the nun chuck wielder couldn’t be more annoying if he had tried.  They were all happy to return home, that is until they saw what was waiting for them when they arrived.  Gwendoline had taken position at the entrance, the light encroaching from behind her cast eerie shadows at their feet.  They all paused in bewilderment.  Mikey was the first to somewhat regain his composure, “Hey G-line, you didn’t have to meet us at the door.”  Still a bit shaky, he scooped her up and strode on into the light.  The three remaining brothers were still quite unnerved; they remained near the entry, frozen in their pregnant silence for a while before hesitantly making their way forward. 

They convened in the living room not needing an order from the leader to do so; there was something seriously wrong with that doll, and they needed to get to the bottom of it.  The blue, red, and purple ninja began compiling every strange event that had befallen them since their brother adopted the specimen.  Once completed, Donnie was about to suggest a course of action when they were called into the lab by the absent turtle.  The nerd was about to voice his displeasure at his careless brother’s intrusion into his work area but his focus was quickly drawn to the image said sibling had pulled up on the computer monitor.  That was Gwendoline alright.  Mikey explained how he had found several blog entries after various attempted internet searches pertaining to the phrase ‘haunted dolls in New York’.  He slid out of the desk chair to allow his brothers access to the webpage.  They poured over the content, horrified to find the writer had described experiencing similar events after coming into contact with her.  Having only made it through a couple of the five entries, the siblings were stopped mid-thought.  The sound of a single child’s laughter could be heard coming from right outside of the closed lab door.  They went as still as statues except for the slight motion of their eyes seeking comfort in each other’s presence.  That comfort was taken from them by a little girl’s sickly sweet voice inquiring, “Will you come play with me?”  The tension in the room wound more tightly as they turned to one another looking for a solution to the problem waiting for them just outside.  The dead-air in the laboratory gave them no answer, and having received no response, Gwendoline cried, “Are you still there?” A quiet static could barely be heard in the background.

Donatello’s head whipped toward the door and then back to the screen.  He quickly navigated back to the photo at the beginning of the first blog entry.  “Aha!”  His loud and sudden exclamation startled the others.  He moved swiftly to the door, throwing it open before anyone could protest.  Roughly snatching Gwendoline by her head, he stalked over to his homemade x-ray machine.  His family was at a loss for words at his sudden change in demeanor as he watched his instrument scan the doll.   He quickly rummaged through a nearby drawer finding a case of forceps; he selected a pair and went to town on his patient. 

Raphael was growing evermore restless, “Care to share what’s going on with the rest of us, Brainiac?”  His brother’s question snapped Leo out of his daze just in time to see Mikey inching closer to the door.  Bolting over to block his exit, he leveled a mistrustful glare at his worried companion; the leader’s fast thinking was rewarded with a nervous whimper.

Turning back, Donnie casually tossed Gwendoline to the very guilty looking turtle.  Crowing a triumphant exultation, “I have solved the case of the haunted doll in New York!”  Before he continued, he returned his micro-speaker to its dish for safe keeping. 

“Okay, and?”  Raph’s impatience wasn’t improving.

“Well, plain and simple, Michelangelo did it,” the intelligent turtle replied.  He glanced superiorly over at the accused and demanded, “Do you want to tell them or shall I?”

Mikey decided to go with his Hail Mary play, “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about and even if I did I’d plead the fifth.”

Rolling his eyes, Donatello informed his brother, “You watch too many courtroom dramas.”  Addressing the other two in the room he explained, “This is one of Mikey’s more elaborate pranks.  He had to have found that doll and hid her in the trash heap for safe keeping at least a week ago in order to set everything up as thoroughly as he did.  The series in which he performed his tasks could differ slightly from my conjecture; however, I believe that after bringing Gwendoline into the sewers he snapped a photograph to go with a batch of blog entries he would write, detailing hauntings similar to the ones he planned to orchestrate later.”  Strolling back to the computer he pointed out the sewer in the backdrop of the Gwendoline picture and observed that a human probably would not have ventured down into the sewers to take a picture when it easily could have been done above ground.  He also noted the dates the blogs were posted; pulling up the browser history easily confirmed that the application had visited the website on those specified days. 

Confident in his proof, he continued, “He had been spending an above average amount of time in here with me while he was on the computer.  In that time, I had been building and attempting to perfect my micro-speaker.  I remember disclosing all of the information he would have needed to pair the device with his phone and learn to use it for his nefarious plot.  Implanting it into the doll would be a piece of cake compared to everything he had already done.  With all of the prep work having been completed, he brought her to the lair for the big reveal. ”

“The final phase of his plan would have to rely heavily on distraction and timing.  Either last night after we were asleep or this morning, Mikey stole and hid Leo’s polishing cloth.  Subsequently, slipping the doll onto the end of Raph’s bed would also be no problem.  While waiting for him to wake, Michelangelo had plenty of time to adjust the figures on his shelf perfectly, so they toppled when Raph slammed his door,” he turned to his hot headed brother, “because you always slam your door.  Removing Gwendoline from the room would be much more difficult.  I imagine he waited in his room for the commotion to begin before sneaking back to retrieve her, carefully situating her on his shelf, and then heading to the bathroom to appear completely innocent.  If I recall correctly, Mikey was slightly late meeting with us for our patrol, saying he had to take care of something.  That would have been when he moved the doll to the entrance of the lair.  He acted like such a pest the entire time we were out to make sure we forgot his tardiness.  Lastly, we were too preoccupied with his blog entries to notice him ducking out of the lab.  He had more than enough time to place her and ready the sound clips he saved to his phone.  Unbeknownst to Mikey however, I have yet to perfect my speaker and noticed the same static coming from outside as what was present in the speaker’s system, thus revealing his hand.”  Donnie internally patted himself on the back for his superb detective skills.

Mikey snickered, “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!”

“I can’t believe I listened to all that,” Raphael complained, slightly deflating Don’s ego.  “Can we skip to me beating the shell out of him now?”

Leo interjected motioning towards Gwendoline, “It can wait until we get rid of that thing.”  Donatello sighed in grief as another of his great accomplishments went unappreciated.

The trip back to the surface didn’t take long; after finding a suitable place to dispose of the doll turned torture device, they made their way back home.  The four immediately entered the dojo to inform a meditating Master Splinter of the night’s happenings only to be greeted with an all too familiar sight.  Sitting next to their sensei sat the wretched doll.  Hearing his sons’ shocked gasps, he lightly admonished Michelangelo for leaving his toy about.  The confused turtle approached her, “Gwenny G?  You’re back?  Um guys, didn’t we just ditch her up top?”  With no warning, all of the lights in the lair dimmed before violently flickering off and on.  Hopes dashed that the exhausting day Raph experienced could finally be over, this set back sparked his fury.  Accosting his trickster brother he colorfully and loudly made his opinion on the obvious prank known.  “Dude, it wasn’t me!  I know when the joke’s dead,” Mikey winced at his spooky choice of phrasing. 

“What is going on here?” Splinter interrogated his sons for every last detail; all the while the lights continued their chaotic flashing.   The tale having been told in full, the family started to notice an unnatural coldness had crept over their home.  “It is as I feared then,” the master, at long last, gave voice to his hunch.  “This doll has become a tsukumogami.” 

“A who now?” Michelangelo squeaked out his question.

They listened on; growing simultaneously more wide-eyed and terrified, “A tsukumogami is a youkai, a demon, formed when an object has acquired a spirit.  I am sorry, my sons, for not warning you before.  This may have been avoided if we had performed a ningyo kuyo.”

Mikey’s whining wavered, “Now you’re just making words up.”

Their father clarified, “Ningyo kuyo is a ritual used to cleanse toys, usually dolls of any lingering spirits before they are retired, preventing them from becoming vengeful.”  Before he could continue, all the lights in the lair blinked back on and flared to a blinding brightness, then as suddenly as it had started all lights switched off, save for those in the dojo which dimmed impossibly low.  The ninja clan could barely make out the extremities of the surrounding room when a supernatural bluish glow began emanating from Gwendoline.  As she slowly rose in levitation a strange gust of wind whirled around, steadily growing stronger with each passing second, and the family drew back in a fresh wave of horror. 

An otherworldly monotonous cry broke through their psyches as well as the sound of the blasting air, “Why does no one want me?”  The timber and pitch of several different disembodied voices intertwined to project the ghastly query.  Knowing she would be given no explanation, the lights, sounds, and unnatural gale suddenly extinguished.  As Gwendoline left the terror-stricken family in the cold, dead silence and inky darkness of their home, a shrill shriek could be heard echoing through the winding passageways of the sewer.


End file.
